The Number She Didn't Raise

Chapter 1The Painted Window

The painted window had a yellow curtain and a pot of purple flowers.

Tamar wanted it as soon as she saw it on the Bais Yaakov charity table.

Older girls had donated their artwork for a small auction. Mrs. Rosen would take bids, record the buyers, and handle the money.

Tamar had twelve dollars of her own. Mummy had agreed that she could spend up to ten at the event and keep two for the bus home.

They had counted the coins together before school.

Now the painted window looked as though it belonged above Tamar's desk.

She found the number on her bidder card.

Chapter 2The First Bids

Mrs. Rosen, in a grey tichel, held up the picture.

"We'll begin at four dollars."

Tamar raised her card.

Another girl offered five. Tamar offered six.

The picture tilted slightly in Mrs. Rosen's hands. Tamar could see one tiny flower outside the purple pot, leaning toward the light.

That was her favourite part.

At eight dollars, she was still in.

At ten, she raised her card again.

The other girl paused.

Tamar's heart began to beat as though she had already won something.

Chapter 3Eleven

"Eleven," said the other girl.

Tamar's fingers tightened on the card.

She had twelve dollars. Eleven was less than twelve.

But two dollars were for the bus. Ten was the limit she had agreed with Mummy.

She could ask for a new plan, but Mummy was not at the event, and Mrs. Rosen had asked everyone to bid only within their agreed spending limit.

The auction was still going.

"Any more bids?"

Tamar looked at the tiny flower.

Then she put her card flat on her lap.

Chapter 4Somebody Else's Picture

The picture went to the other girl for eleven dollars.

Tamar watched Mrs. Rosen write it down.

She felt cross at the girl, although the girl had done nothing wrong. She had offered a permitted bid and won.

Tamar did not have to make that feeling into a remark.

She folded her hands over her card and watched the next item.

A pencil sketch of a bridge sold for six dollars. A painted bowl sold for nine.

Neither was the window.

She did not bid on them simply to stop feeling as though she had lost.

Chapter 5The Coins in the Purse

At the break, her friend Adina asked what she had bought.

"Nothing yet. The window went above my limit."

"You have twelve, don't you?"

"Two are for the bus. My spending limit is ten."

Adina looked toward the picture table.

"You could have asked me to lend you one."

"That would be more money to repay. It wouldn't change the plan I'd agreed."

Tamar surprised herself by saying it clearly.

She was still disappointed, but she did not need another coin to explain the coins she already had.

Chapter 6The Postcard Tray

Near the door, the art teacher had set out handmade postcards at a fixed price of two dollars each.

Tamar looked through them.

One showed a row of boots outside a rainy doorway. Another showed a jug and three apples.

She liked the boots. It was not a smaller version of the window. It was a different picture she could actually choose.

She checked the price with the teacher and bought it for two dollars.

Eight dollars of the agreed spending allowance remained unspent. The two bus dollars stayed in their separate purse pocket.

She didn't need to use the whole allowance to prove she'd enjoyed the event.

Chapter 7The Bus Home

At the bus stop, Adina asked to see the postcard.

Tamar held it by the edges.

"Those boots look like my brother's," Adina said.

"Especially the one falling over."

They laughed.

When the bus came, Tamar had the fare ready.

She didn't have to borrow it, ask for a ride, or explain that a painted flower had used it up.

The window picture was travelling home with somebody else.

Tamar's boots postcard travelled in the front of her exercise book.

Both pictures could have homes without one buyer having behaved badly.

Chapter 8Above the Desk

At home, Tamar told Mummy about the auction and the eleven-dollar bid.

Mummy listened, her navy sheitel pinned neatly away from her face.

"I really wanted it," Tamar said.

"I can hear that."

"I kept the bus money, and I bought this instead."

She showed the postcard and the remaining coins.

Mummy checked the money with her. Then Tamar stood the postcard on her desk.

The wall above it stayed empty that evening.

She could still want the painted window. She could also read, do her homework, and notice the funny tilted boot.

Not raising her card had cost her a picture, not the whole afternoon.